GetPassageurn:cts:pbc:bible.parallel.eng.kingjames:33urn:cts:pbc:bible.parallel.eng.kingjames:33The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham , Ahaz , and Hezekiah , kings of Judah , which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem . Hear , all ye people ; hearken , O earth , and all that therein is : and let the Lord GOD be witness against you , the Lord from his holy temple . For , behold , the LORD cometh forth out of his place , and will come down , and tread upon the high places of the earth . And the mountains shall be molten under him , and the valleys shall be cleft , as wax before the fire , and as the waters that are poured down a steep place . For the transgression of Jacob is all this , and for the sins of the house of Israel . What is the transgression of Jacob ? is it not Samaria ? and what are the high places of Judah ? are they not Jerusalem ? Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field , and as plantings of a vineyard : and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley , and I will discover the foundations thereof . And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces , and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire , and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate : for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot , and they shall return to the hire of an harlot . Therefore I will wail and howl , I will go stripped and naked : I will make a wailing like the dragons , and mourning as the owls . For her wound is incurable ; for it is come unto Judah ; he is come unto the gate of my people , even to Jerusalem . Declare ye it not at Gath , weep ye not at all : in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust . Pass ye away , thou inhabitant of Saphir , having thy shame naked : the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel ; he shall receive of you his standing . For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good : but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem . O thou inhabitant of Lachish , bind the chariot to the swift beast : she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion : for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee . Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath : the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel . Yet will I bring an heir unto thee , O inhabitant of Mareshah : he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel . Make thee bald , and poll thee for thy delicate children ; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle ; for they are gone into captivity from thee . Woe to them that devise iniquity , and work evil upon their beds ! when the morning is light , they practise it , because it is in the power of their hand . And they covet fields , and take them by violence ; and houses , and take them away : so they oppress a man and his house , even a man and his heritage . Therefore thus saith the LORD ; Behold , against this family do I devise an evil , from which ye shall not remove your necks ; neither shall ye go haughtily : for this time is evil . In that day shall one take up a parable against you , and lament with a doleful lamentation , and say , We be utterly spoiled : he hath changed the portion of my people : how hath he removed it from me ! turning away he hath divided our fields . Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD . Prophesy ye not , say they to them that prophesy : they shall not prophesy to them , that they shall not take shame . O thou that art named the house of Jacob , is the spirit of the LORD straitened ? are these his doings ? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly ? Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy : ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war . The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses ; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever . Arise ye , and depart ; for this is not your rest : because it is polluted , it shall destroy you , even with a sore destruction . If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie , saying , I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink ; he shall even be the prophet of this people . I will surely assemble , O Jacob , all of thee ; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel ; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah , as the flock in the midst of their fold : they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men . The breaker is come up before them : they have broken up , and have passed through the gate , and are gone out by it : and their king shall pass before them , and the LORD on the head of them . And I said , Hear , I pray you , O heads of Jacob , and ye princes of the house of Israel ; Is it not for you to know judgment ? Who hate the good , and love the evil ; who pluck off their skin from off them , and their flesh from off their bones ; Who also eat the flesh of my people , and flay their skin from off them ; and they break their bones , and chop them in pieces , as for the pot , and as flesh within the caldron . Then shall they cry unto the LORD , but he will not hear them : he will even hide his face from them at that time , as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings . Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err , that bite with their teeth , and cry , Peace ; and he that putteth not into their mouths , they even prepare war against him . Therefore night shall be unto you , that ye shall not have a vision ; and it shall be dark unto you , that ye shall not divine ; and the sun shall go down over the prophets , and the day shall be dark over them . Then shall the seers be ashamed , and the diviners confounded : yea , they shall all cover their lips ; for there is no answer of God . But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD , and of judgment , and of might , to declare unto Jacob his transgression , and to Israel his sin . Hear this , I pray you , ye heads of the house of Jacob , and princes of the house of Israel , that abhor judgment , and pervert all equity . They build up Zion with blood , and Jerusalem with iniquity . The heads thereof judge for reward , and the priests thereof teach for hire , and the prophets thereof divine for money : yet will they lean upon the LORD , and say , Is not the LORD among us ? none evil can come upon us . Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field , and Jerusalem shall become heaps , and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest . But in the last days it shall come to pass , that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains , and it shall be exalted above the hills ; and people shall flow unto it . And many nations shall come , and say , Come , and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD , and to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways , and we will walk in his paths : for the law shall go forth of Zion , and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem . And he shall judge among many people , and rebuke strong nations afar off ; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares , and their spears into pruninghooks : nation shall not lift up a sword against nation , neither shall they learn war any more . But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree ; and none shall make them afraid : for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it . For all people will walk every one in the name of his god , and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever . In that day , saith the LORD , will I assemble her that halteth , and I will gather her that is driven out , and her that I have afflicted ; And I will make her that halted a remnant , and her that was cast far off a strong nation : and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth , even for ever . And thou , O tower of the flock , the strong hold of the daughter of Zion , unto thee shall it come , even the first dominion ; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem . Now why dost thou cry out aloud ? is there no king in thee ? is thy counseller perished ? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail . Be in pain , and labour to bring forth , O daughter of Zion , like a woman in travail : for now shalt thou go forth out of the city , and thou shalt dwell in the field , and thou shalt go even to Babylon ; there shalt thou be delivered ; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies . Now also many nations are gathered against thee , that say , Let her be defiled , and let our eye look upon Zion . But they know not the thoughts of the LORD , neither understand they his counsel : for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor . Arise and thresh , O daughter of Zion : for I will make thine horn iron , and I will make thy hoofs brass : and thou shalt beat in pieces many people : and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD , and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth . Now gather thyself in troops , O daughter of troops : he hath laid siege against us : they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek . But thou , Bethlehem Ephratah , though thou be little among the thousands of Judah , yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth have been from of old , from everlasting . Therefore will he give them up , until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth : then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel . And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD , in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God ; and they shall abide : for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth . And this man shall be the peace , when the Assyrian shall come into our land : and when he shall tread in our palaces , then shall we raise against him seven shepherds , and eight principal men . And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword , and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof : thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian , when he cometh into our land , and when he treadeth within our borders . And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD , as the showers upon the grass , that tarrieth not for man , nor waiteth for the sons of men . And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest , as a young lion among the flocks of sheep : who , if he go through , both treadeth down , and teareth in pieces , and none can deliver . Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries , and all thine enemies shall be cut off . And it shall come to pass in that day , saith the LORD , that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee , and I will destroy thy chariots : And I will cut off the cities of thy land , and throw down all thy strong holds : And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand ; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers : Thy graven images also will I cut off , and thy standing images out of the midst of thee ; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands . And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee : so will I destroy thy cities . And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen , such as they have not heard . Hear ye now what the LORD saith ; Arise , contend thou before the mountains , and let the hills hear thy voice . Hear ye , O mountains , the LORD's controversy , and ye strong foundations of the earth : for the LORD hath a controversy with his people , and he will plead with Israel . O my people , what have I done unto thee ? and wherein have I wearied thee ? testify against me . For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt , and redeemed thee out of the house of servants ; and I sent before thee Moses , Aaron , and Miriam . O my people , remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted , and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal ; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD . Wherewith shall I come before the LORD , and bow myself before the high God ? shall I come before him with burnt offerings , with calves of a year old ? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams , or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression , the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? He hath shewed thee , O man , what is good ; and what doth the LORD require of thee , but to do justly , and to love mercy , and to walk humbly with thy God ? The LORD's voice crieth unto the city , and the man of wisdom shall see thy name : hear ye the rod , and who hath appointed it . Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked , and the scant measure that is abominable ? Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances , and with the bag of deceitful weights ? For the rich men thereof are full of violence , and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies , and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth . Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee , in making thee desolate because of thy sins . Thou shalt eat , but not be satisfied ; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee ; and thou shalt take hold , but shalt not deliver ; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword . Thou shalt sow , but thou shalt not reap ; thou shalt tread the olives , but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil ; and sweet wine , but shalt not drink wine . For the statutes of Omri are kept , and all the works of the house of Ahab , and ye walk in their counsels ; that I should make thee a desolation , and the inhabitants thereof an hissing : therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people . Woe is me ! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits , as the grapegleanings of the vintage : there is no cluster to eat : my soul desired the firstripe fruit . The good man is perished out of the earth : and there is none upright among men : they all lie in wait for blood ; they hunt every man his brother with a net . That they may do evil with both hands earnestly , the prince asketh , and the judge asketh for a reward ; and the great man , he uttereth his mischievous desire : so they wrap it up . The best of them is as a brier : the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge : the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh ; now shall be their perplexity . Trust ye not in a friend , put ye not confidence in a guide : keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom . For the son dishonoureth the father , the daughter riseth up against her mother , the daughter in law against her mother in law ; a man's enemies are the men of his own house . Therefore I will look unto the LORD ; I will wait for the God of my salvation : my God will hear me . Rejoice not against me , O mine enemy : when I fall , I shall arise ; when I sit in darkness , the LORD shall be a light unto me . I will bear the indignation of the LORD , because I have sinned against him , until he plead my cause , and execute judgment for me : he will bring me forth to the light , and I shall behold his righteousness . Then she that is mine enemy shall see it , and shame shall cover her which said unto me , Where is the LORD thy God ? mine eyes shall behold her : now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets . In the day that thy walls are to be built , in that day shall the decree be far removed . In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria , and from the fortified cities , and from the fortress even to the river , and from sea to sea , and from mountain to mountain . Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein , for the fruit of their doings . Feed thy people with thy rod , the flock of thine heritage , which dwell solitarily in the wood , in the midst of Carmel : let them feed in Bashan and Gilead , as in the days of old . According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things . The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might : they shall lay their hand upon their mouth , their ears shall be deaf . They shall lick the dust like a serpent , they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth : they shall be afraid of the LORD our God , and shall fear because of thee . Who is a God like unto thee , that pardoneth iniquity , and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage ? he retaineth not his anger for ever , because he delighteth in mercy . He will turn again , he will have compassion upon us ; he will subdue our iniquities ; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea . Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob , and the mercy to Abraham , which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old .